On 19 December 2022, the Divisional Court handed down judgment in a number of linked judicial review claims that challenged Home Office decisions to remove asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda, in order for their asylum claims to be processed there rather than here.
In the judgment the Court concluded it was in principle lawful to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda, but that the Home Secretary had to properly assess each individual’s circumstances, and that in a number of the claims there had been a failure to do so.
Applications for permission to appeal against the judgment, to the Court of Appeal, were heard on 16 January 2023. Permission was granted on various grounds to a number of the claimants, including those represented by members of Garden Court Chambers. The grounds included whether the Divisional Court properly assessed the reliability of assurances given by the Rwandan government to respect the human rights of those removed; whether removal to Rwanda would breach the Refugee Convention; and whether the decision making process adopted by the Home Secretary was procedurally unfair.
Sonali Naik KC, Amanda Weston KC, Mark Symes, Eva Doerr and Isaac Ricca-Richardson represented AS (Iran) instructed by Paul Turner and Iain Palmer of Barnes Harrild & Dyer.
Alex Grigg was part of the team representing HTN (Vietnam), instructed by Shalini Patel, Toufique Hossain and Rachel Pask of Duncan Lewis Solicitors.
David Sellwood was part of the team representing RM (Iran), instructed by Daniel Merriman and Tim Davies of Wilsons Solicitors.
Raza Halim was part of the team representing NSK (Iraq) and AT (Iran). Ali Bandegani was part of the team representing AAA (Syria) and AHA (Syria). Raza Halim and Ali Bandegani were instructed by Toufique Hossain of Duncan Lewis Solicitors.
